An Exercise in Freedom
by CatrinaSL
Summary: FYDL 10 Days of Femslash. Darcy doesn't want to make a delivery to S.H.I.E.L.D. because of someone she might see there, and an embarrassing memory of science gone wrong. It definitely has nothing to do with any feelings left over from said memory.
**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nor did I think up the prompts for this challenge.

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"Don't make meeee," Darcy begged.

Jane sighed. "I'm not _making_ you do anything," she replied. "I'm _asking_ you to help me out; be a professional, and just get over it. It's not like we're going to stop working with S.H.I.E.L.D. anytime soon, so you'll have to do this eventually; why not just get it over with?"

"Because awkward," Darcy explained. "Because science gone wrong," she continued. "Because uh, what else? Oh yeah. Sex pollen. Jane. If it had been you and, like, Jemma in there or something, you wouldn't be volunteering to deliver stuff to Super Secret Base."

"Actually I would, because I like to think that Jemma and I are both adults and would either have agreed to put the incident behind us, like mature people do, or we would want to see each other as often as possible so that we could repeat the experience of our own free will."

Darcy's mouth fell open. "Are you sure the crush you have on her is purely science-related?"

Jane nodded. "Are _you_ sure the reason that you don't want to take this stuff to S.H.I.E.L.D. for me is just because you're embarrassed about a situation that happened over six months ago and not because you might actually have feelings for the person who went through it with you?"

Darcy scowled. "Well, now you're going to make me get _real_ ," she said with a pout.

"It's okay," Jane told her softly. "Just talk with her about it. She might be feeling the same way."

"What, toyed with by science? Like the feelings she has might not even be her own but are left over from being mindfucked by a nefarious plant?"

"Oh, Darcy," Jane cooed sympathetically, pulling her in for a hug. "I wasn't going to tell you, but Coulson asked that you come today. May's driving him nuts. He says she never talks about it, but she's always going off into her own world during briefings and her eyes glaze over when he tries to talk to her for more than five minutes. Even if she doesn't feel the same way, you two need to talk. You can help her get some peace, and she can help you finally believe me when I say there are no lingering effects from what you two went through, except maybe some emotional ones."

Jane could tell that Darcy was still pouting, but she had relaxed in her arms, so Jane took that as a sign that Darcy had relented. "Besides," she said. "FitzSimmons really need this stuff."

Darcy wilted further. "Ugh, fine," she said.

Jane was still in the lab that evening when Darcy got back. She was accompanied by men with large important-looking crates, so she waited for them to leave before saying, "Well? How did everything go?"

Darcy shrugged, and her face was expressionless. Jane wasn't sure if she needed a hug or a high five yet, so she waited. "Fitz sent some stuff back for Tony. He babbled for a while and it was adorable, but I didn't get anything but the articles, y'know, 'the' and 'to' and 'and,' so I got it all recorded so I can play it back later for He Who Shall Actually Understand. Jemma sent a very flirty note along with a paper for Bruce to read, and told me to tell you she thinks you're awesome."

"See?" Jane said. "Mature."

"Yep," Darcy replied. "Now it's time for you to quit the science for today. A very tall, blond, and studly god gave me puppy eyes on my way up here, so go ahead and put him on your to do list."

Jane set her work aside, pinning Darcy with a gaze. "And?" she prompted.

"And what?"

"And the other reason you went all the way to Definitely Probably Not Virginia today?"

Darcy raised both eyebrows innocently, and Jane wondered when she'd acquired the ability to keep her excitement under wraps. Darcy had never been able to keep jubilant emotions inside. Jane bit her lip, hoping that Darcy hadn't been turned down, or rudely dismissed, or glared at.

"Okay, I guess I'm... pretty much finished here, then. Wanna share an elevator?"

Darcy shrugged and waited until Jane had turned off her monitor to follow her out of the lab and down the hall.

Jane pushed the button for the main residential floor and decided to get it out of the way and ask immediately, so that she could apologize for the worst if necessary. "So, um, did you happen to see May at all?"

Darcy nodded, still stoic.

"Did you... talk?"

Darcy tilted her head slightly. "Not much."

Jane's brow wrinkled in concern. "Darcy, I'm sorry I made you—"

"She actually didn't say anything at first," Darcy interrupted. "She just went:" Darcy twitched her head. If there had been anywhere else to go in the elevator, Jane would have followed.

"And then what?" she asked.

"I trailed after her through half the freaking base until we got to a dark hallway. I thought she was gonna shank me or something, but we just stood there for a few seconds, and then she goes, 'no cameras here.'"

Jane's eyes widened in alarm and she grasped Darcy's arm. "Then what?!"

Darcy's face was enveloped by a gigantic grin. "Jane, she pressed me up against the wall and kissed the hell out of me. It was _crazy_ hot."

Jane let out an amused but relieved breath. "You jerk! You had me thinking you got rejected or something!"

"That is not something that would ever have happened," Darcy informed her, a bit smug. "Coulson found us later. It was kind of embarrassing because I do not remember taking off my shirt, but he didn't seem like he cared about that. He just thanked May for clueing him in to another blind spot on base and suggested that we might want to keep it in her quarters next time."

Jane laughed. "And now what?"

Darcy grinned. "We're going out next week."

"And then?"

"Then we probably should talk about how we're going to work out the whole 'seeing each other as often as possible' thing, because we've both got a _lot_ of free will to exercise."

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Author's Note: You can read my behind the scenes rambling on my blog, iwillwriteyourfic DOT blogspot DOT com SLASH 2016 SLASH 04 SLASH fydl-10-days-of-femslash DOT html


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